Realme C2 Review - Entry-level powerhouse
Realme C2 disrupted the entry-level smartphone market on the last day of May because of its highly appealing price given its design and specifications.
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| Meet the realme C2 |
After months of using the realme C2, here's our full review! Read on!
For our review part 1: Realme C1 Unboxing and First Impressions
Display Quality
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| 6.1-inch display |
Realme C2 sports a 6.1-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass protected IPS screen with HD+ 1560 x 720 at 282 ppi. It has nice viewing angles, punchy colors, along with the crisp and sharp display.
It can go very dim, which is my preference when it comes to smartphones, but it also can't go so bright where you can use it under direct sun.
In the display settings, you can resize the font and display according to your preference. You can also adjust the screen color temperature from default to either cooler or warmer.
There is no option to hide the notch.
It has 5 points of multitouch, capable enough for typing and playing games.
Punchy colors with crisp and sharp display!
In the display settings, you can resize the font and display according to your preference. You can also adjust the screen color temperature from default to either cooler or warmer.
There is no option to hide the notch.
It has 5 points of multitouch, capable enough for typing and playing games.
Audio Quality
Realme C2 is equipped with a single grill loudspeaker placed at the bottom.
Overall it has crisp details and impressive loudness. This is one of the entry-level smartphones I've tested that exceeded my loudness expectations. Although I crank it to the highest volume, the sound distortion is pretty much subtle.
For headphones, quality is average and decent. But do not expect it to compete with smartphones with dedicated HiFi chips.
Microphone quality is fine for calls and decent performance for audio recordings as well.
This smartphone is equipped with 4,000mAh of battery, the one found in Samsung Galaxy Note9. Although it's 230mAh behind its predecessor's capacity, realme C2 lasted for 15 hours and 1 minute in our PCMark Battery test!
For real-life usage, realme C2 can be used for up to a day and a half under moderate to high usage. This includes texting, calls, social media surf, music, and some games.
Charging lasts up to 2 hours using its 5V/2A wall charger.
Realme C2 has respectable shooting and saving speed for a budget device. Focus speed is not the fastest (obviously), but it works pretty well.
For daylight shots, it can capture images with plenty of details. It also has lively colors with decent punch and contrast.
Dynamic range is also fairly wide most of the time except for against the light shots.
For against the light shots, use the HDR mode. It works better now.
Super close-up shots are a bit hard to achieve though. It may take time. My suggestion is to shoot in well-lit areas for close-ups.
In daylight, it shoots images with crisp details. It delivers good overall exposure and a nice dynamic range as well.
Overall it has crisp details and impressive loudness. This is one of the entry-level smartphones I've tested that exceeded my loudness expectations. Although I crank it to the highest volume, the sound distortion is pretty much subtle.
For headphones, quality is average and decent. But do not expect it to compete with smartphones with dedicated HiFi chips.
Microphone quality is fine for calls and decent performance for audio recordings as well.
Battery Life
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| Stellar battery performance |
This smartphone is equipped with 4,000mAh of battery, the one found in Samsung Galaxy Note9. Although it's 230mAh behind its predecessor's capacity, realme C2 lasted for 15 hours and 1 minute in our PCMark Battery test!
Similar battery capacity to pricier smartphones!
For real-life usage, realme C2 can be used for up to a day and a half under moderate to high usage. This includes texting, calls, social media surf, music, and some games.
Charging lasts up to 2 hours using its 5V/2A wall charger.
Camera
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| Improved dual rear cameras |
Realme C2 just like its predecessor is equipped with dual rear cameras, but improved and better versions. It still comes with a 13MP f/2.2 + 2MP f/2.4, but now has PDAF for faster and more accurate focus.
It has camera features like HDR, portrait mode, panorama, bokeh, and face beauty. You can also choose the aspect ratio for your shots easily. It has no pro mode.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Daylight 1 |
Realme C2 has respectable shooting and saving speed for a budget device. Focus speed is not the fastest (obviously), but it works pretty well.
For daylight shots, it can capture images with plenty of details. It also has lively colors with decent punch and contrast.
Dynamic range is also fairly wide most of the time except for against the light shots.
For against the light shots, use the HDR mode. It works better now.
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| Close-up |
Super close-up shots are a bit hard to achieve though. It may take time. My suggestion is to shoot in well-lit areas for close-ups.
For lowlight, it shoots nice photos, but it is grainy. The LED flash can help soften and take better night shots.
Indoor shots are alright. There's grain, but I can't really complain much at this price point. At least colors are still punchy and natural-looking. Exposure is not too dark or too much as well.
The bokeh effect is better as well. It is still not the cleanest around, but at least its fail rate is lesser now than the C1.
Related: Realme C2: Camera Samples
For selfies, it has 5MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture size and 1.12μm pixels. The selfie cam also comes with AI face beauty, AI portrait mode, and AI face unlock.
In case you don't know, AI Beauty 2.0 is a beautification tech that can automatically give you beautified yet still a bit natural-looking selfies with good exposure and colors. It also has HDR, filters, portrait (bokeh) mode, and screen flash for selfies.
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| Indoor |
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| Indoor 2 |
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| Indoor against a person subject |
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| Indoor 3 |
Indoor shots are alright. There's grain, but I can't really complain much at this price point. At least colors are still punchy and natural-looking. Exposure is not too dark or too much as well.
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| Portrait |
The bokeh effect is better as well. It is still not the cleanest around, but at least its fail rate is lesser now than the C1.
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| Low light |
Related: Realme C2: Camera Samples
For selfies, it has 5MP shooter with f/2.0 aperture size and 1.12μm pixels. The selfie cam also comes with AI face beauty, AI portrait mode, and AI face unlock.
In case you don't know, AI Beauty 2.0 is a beautification tech that can automatically give you beautified yet still a bit natural-looking selfies with good exposure and colors. It also has HDR, filters, portrait (bokeh) mode, and screen flash for selfies.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| Daylight |
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| Daylight selfie against the light |
In daylight, it shoots images with crisp details. It delivers good overall exposure and a nice dynamic range as well.
However, it will struggle in "against the light" situations. The exposure on the face is acceptable with viewable details, but the background is overexposed.
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| Indoor selfie 2 |
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| AI beautified selfie level 50 percent |
Indoor selfies are alright even if there is a bit loss of details. At least exposure and color accuracy are still on point. Face beauty at level 50 can really make your face look soft.
The bokeh mode for selfies is GREAT for the price. In areas with proper lighting, you can get selfies with bokeh background blur that you won't get with other budget phones.
In low light, it struggled. It is soft and grainy. Use the screen flash to take better selfies in the dark.
For videos, it can take up 1080p videos for both the main cam and the selfie cam. For the main cam, it even has 80fps 480p slow-mo videos.
The main cam gave videos with decent overall details and colors for the price. Stabilization is a bit shaky, but for the price, it is considered as respectable. If you have stable hands, it is just fine. Obviously, it'll struggle in areas with dim lighting.
The selfie video is also quite nice in daylight, but it'll be grainy in low light.
Realme C2 is powered with 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P22 octa-core processor, PowerVR GE8320, a choice of 2GB/3GB RAMs, 16GB/32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB (dedicated).
Overall, connectivity and telephony experience is also nice. WiFi is stable, 4G LTE signal is strong in areas with strong signal reception, GPS works, and it has dual SIM slots.
This smartphone still has the USB OTG support and gyroscope for VR and AR applications.
Pros - Better and modern matte design, capable processor, stellar battery, improved cameras (coming from C1), loud single speaker
Cons - No fingerprint scanner, no LED notification light
CPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P22 octa-core processor
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
RAM: 2GB/3GB
ROM: 16GB/32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB (dedicated)
Back Camera: 13MP f/2.2 + 2MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 5MP f/2.0 w/ AI face beauty
Battery: 4,000mAh
OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ ColorOS 6.0
Connectivity: WiFi, 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, FM Radio, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Face unlock, Colors: spectrum blue, spectrum black
Dimensions: 153.7 x 73.7 x 8.5 mm
Weight: 166 g
Price: PHP 5,490 (2GB RAM/16GB ROM), PHP 6,490 (3GB RAM/32GB ROM)
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| Portrait selfie |
The bokeh mode for selfies is GREAT for the price. In areas with proper lighting, you can get selfies with bokeh background blur that you won't get with other budget phones.
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| Lowlight selfie |
In low light, it struggled. It is soft and grainy. Use the screen flash to take better selfies in the dark.
For videos, it can take up 1080p videos for both the main cam and the selfie cam. For the main cam, it even has 80fps 480p slow-mo videos.
The main cam gave videos with decent overall details and colors for the price. Stabilization is a bit shaky, but for the price, it is considered as respectable. If you have stable hands, it is just fine. Obviously, it'll struggle in areas with dim lighting.
The selfie video is also quite nice in daylight, but it'll be grainy in low light.
Video Samples
Performance
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| Realme C2 benchmarks |
Realme C2 is powered with 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P22 octa-core processor, PowerVR GE8320, a choice of 2GB/3GB RAMs, 16GB/32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB (dedicated).
At this price point, Helio P22 is one of the most capable around!
Although it is an entry-level and under PHP 6K smartphone, realme C2 gave me a seamless experience. It was beyond my "laggy" expectation because of its price. Thanks to its better processor.
It can even play some games like PUBG mobile in low settings with high frame rates properly. But we recommend that you get the 3GB RAM/32GB ROM variant if realme C2 is the next entry-level smartphone you're eyeing.
It would give you a better experience than the 2GB RAM/32GB ROM variant. Although it is still one of the smoothest as long as you don't install huge apps and open a lot of apps all at the same time.
We also like its thermal management. It does not get too hot while charging and too much playing. Just warm.
It can even play some games like PUBG mobile in low settings with high frame rates properly. But we recommend that you get the 3GB RAM/32GB ROM variant if realme C2 is the next entry-level smartphone you're eyeing.
It would give you a better experience than the 2GB RAM/32GB ROM variant. Although it is still one of the smoothest as long as you don't install huge apps and open a lot of apps all at the same time.
We also like its thermal management. It does not get too hot while charging and too much playing. Just warm.
The UI
It's also a yay since it runs on the latest Android 9.0 Pie and ColorsOS 6.0! It doesn't have too much bloatware apps. Most of the pre-installed apps are intended for optimization. We also loved its cleaner look. |
| Realme C2's UI |
Other features
The face unlock is snappy and fast even in low light, but it still has no fingerprint scanner.Overall, connectivity and telephony experience is also nice. WiFi is stable, 4G LTE signal is strong in areas with strong signal reception, GPS works, and it has dual SIM slots.
This smartphone still has the USB OTG support and gyroscope for VR and AR applications.
Pros - Better and modern matte design, capable processor, stellar battery, improved cameras (coming from C1), loud single speaker
Cons - No fingerprint scanner, no LED notification light
Realme C2 Specs
Display: 6.1-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla glass protected IPS screen w/ HD+ 1560 x 720 at 282 ppiCPU: 2.0GHz 64-bit Helio P22 octa-core processor
GPU: PowerVR GE8320
RAM: 2GB/3GB
ROM: 16GB/32GB expandable via microSD card slot up to 128GB (dedicated)
Back Camera: 13MP f/2.2 + 2MP f/2.4 w/ PDAF and LED flash
Selfie Camera: 5MP f/2.0 w/ AI face beauty
Battery: 4,000mAh
OS: Android 9.0 Pie w/ ColorOS 6.0
Connectivity: WiFi, 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, FM Radio, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, dual SIM
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: Face unlock, Colors: spectrum blue, spectrum black
Dimensions: 153.7 x 73.7 x 8.5 mm
Weight: 166 g
Price: PHP 5,490 (2GB RAM/16GB ROM), PHP 6,490 (3GB RAM/32GB ROM)
Verdict
Realme C2 is an entry-level powerhouse. It has the necessary things a budget consumer needs.
For me, despite its few weaknesses, it is one of the most capable, and best under the PHP 6K smartphone we have in the market.
We enjoyed working on the review of this smartphone over the past month.
Build/Design - 4.25
For me, despite its few weaknesses, it is one of the most capable, and best under the PHP 6K smartphone we have in the market.
We enjoyed working on the review of this smartphone over the past month.
Build/Design - 4.25
Display - 4
Audio - 4.25
Battery - 4.5
Camera - 4.25
Performance - 4.25
Average - 4.25/5
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